Donnelly: Covid-19 second wave is 90% less deadly than the first

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
The second wave of Covid-19 is 90% less deadly than the first, the Health Minister has told TDs.
Stephen Donnelly was speaking as the final report of the Special Committee on Covid-19 was put before the Dáil.
He paid tribute to the country's healthcare workers for the "extraordinary improvement" in case fatalities.
"We’re seeing a more than 90% reduction in fatalities in the second wave compared to the first wave. So for every 100 people who died in the first wave, less than 10 have died this time. By any measure that’s an extraordinary improvement."
Mr Donnelly said the families of those who died in the country's nursing homes "deserve answers" as the report has suggested.
"A significant proportion of those who died were nursing home residents. I have met with some bereaved families and know that many are looking for answers. They deserve answers and, whilst many factors must be considered, I am looking at the best way to get them the answers they deserve."
The minister said Ireland has the third-lowest case rate of Covid per 100,000 population in Europe and the ability to perform 140,000 tests in a week. Since March, the country's labs have carried out 1.8 million tests for the virus.
"A number of European states have seen their hospital systems at maximum capacity. A number of countries have had to send patients to Germany for treatment when their own critical care resources were exhausted. In Switzerland, the number of people in intensive care is now higher than during the first wave of the virus.
"That is why the Government took extensive measures throughout this pandemic to limit transmission of the virus when it was required - to ensure we protected lives and did not have a situation where our hospitals and intensive care units would become overrun."
The report makes 11 key recommendations, including the inquiry into nursing homes, where over 1,000 people have died of the virus since the pandemic began.
The report says the State "became overly focussed on preparing acute hospitals for the oncoming pandemic in February and March and failed to recognise the level of risk posed to those in nursing homes" and that there were "delays in reacting to an evolving and deteriorating situation in nursing homes".